MO: International poll watchers in state can only observe elections

OSCE has been a frequent visitor to the U.S. during presidential elections.

By Johnny Kampis | Missouri Watchdog

ST. LOUIS – International poll watchers now in Missouri can monitor the state’s general election as long as they don’t interfere with the process.

Election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been deployed to states around the country to ensure fair practices in the election. Representatives from OSCE also visited during presidential elections in 2004 and 2008, and the 2010 mid-term elections.

A schedule recently posted online shows that Sandra Gale of the United Kingdom and Baurzhan Yermegiyayev of Kazakhstan plan to visit Jefferson City and Oklahoma City this election cycle.

Poland-based spokesman Thomas Rymer told Missouri Watchdog in an email response Thursday that the team is now working in Missouri and will be here until after the election Tuesday.

“They are based out of Jefferson City, but they have been working throughout the state, meeting with a wide array of stakeholders in the election process there, including state government representatives, political parties and individual candidates,” he wrote.

“The observers are following campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant federal and state institutions, implementation of the legislative framework, and the resolution of election disputes,” Rymer wrote.

The OSCE poll watchers are based out of Jefferson City, but traveling around the state in the days before the election.

An OSCE webpage with information about the observation process says the group is committed to impartiality in its duties, and will not interfere in the election process “in any way.”

“Nor does it outline specific directives for such an observer,” she said. “However, any such observer would need to check in with a local election authority to coordinate any observation of the elections process either at the central location or at a polling place.”

Johnny Kampis is a content editor and staff writer at Watchdog.org. Johnny previously worked in the newspaper industry and as a freelance writer, and has been published in The New York Times, Time.com, FoxNews.com and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A former semi-professional poker player, Kampis is writing a book documenting the poker scene at the 2016 World Series of Poker, a decade after the peak of the poker boom. You can follow him on Twitter @TuscaloosaJohn or reach him via email at [email protected]